Volume 1, Chapter 36 – A Condition That Can’t Be Refused

“You…!”

Wounded and defeated, then humiliated on top of it, Jiang Haojing—hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot—blacked out in a rage and collapsed like a corpse in the middle of the long flight of steps.

A grating screech of brakes cut in. No one knew when they’d arrived, but four pitch-black sedans had pulled up in a fan at the foot of the steps, and out of them filed dojo disciples in black-green training uniforms.

Bai Xiang watched in silence as they climbed out one by one, her gaze flicking between the color of their clothes and the wooden swords in their hands, finally settling on a beautiful woman who got out last.

The beauty looked just over thirty, lushly curved, in a qipao-style dress slit all the way up to the hip; her long legs were sheathed in nude stockings, her hair coiled at the back of her head with a small fan saucily tucked in.

“Oh?”

Head lifting, the beauty glanced up at Jiang Haojing lying above, surprise touching her face.

Then she looked up again, saw Bai Xiang, then looked back at Jiang Haojing; her luscious red lips parted slightly.

“So it wasn’t Bai Lianzhou who struck.” She smiled instead and raised her voice a notch. “Then you must be the chief disciple of the Shenming Dojo… the child whom Master Hua’an bestowed a name upon, yes?”

“Who are you.” Bai Xiang had no intention of humoring her question.

“Who I am isn’t something you’re qualified to ask…” The beauty’s smile grew brighter. “If you know what’s good for you, you should be calling your grandpa out right about now.”

“Because what we’re about to discuss decides whether you can go on living here.”

Here for the dojo?

Bai Xiang looked again at Jiang Haojing, now certain that her sudden move to rally so many disciples to quit the dojo had been egged on by this qipao beauty behind the scenes.

Footsteps sounded behind; the disciples Bai Xiang had defeated were supporting one another as they emerged from both sides. They carefully skirted past her, descended the steps, and joined the group below.

The suited beauty motioned to the sunglasses-wearing female bodyguard beside her, who immediately stepped forward to carry the unconscious Jiang Haojing away. The scene, at least, no longer looked quite so ugly.

Meanwhile, thanks to Bai Leying and the others running to alert them, Bai Shengju and Bai Lianzhou had already come out from the inner rooms with several younger members. They stood on the steps, looking down together with Bai Xiang.

“Liu Mengqing?”

Seeing her, Bai Shengju frowned, then smoothed it away.

“All these dirty tricks, and in the end it’s just a land grab.”

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“Quite right.” The qipao beauty, ‘Liu Mengqing,’ nodded. “Never mind that Chengfeng Sword Dao and Shenming Sword Dao are already at odds—even without grudges, you’re squatting on a prime plot without a Forge-the-Sword method. Anyone would come test your gates.”

“That’s exactly the idea your father had.” Bai Shengju paused mid-sentence. “…which is why he died under my sword.”

“He died because his skill fell short.” Liu Mengqing exhaled with her eyes closed. “And here I am, his daughter, who dares not forget that blood debt for even a moment.”

“You’re here to kill me?” Bai Shengju laughed. “Even if you kill me at the meet, so what? Ten years from now, someone will still come knock on your doors.”

“What a world-weary truth.” Liu Mengqing’s smile cooled as well.

“But this world is exactly that, Old Master Bai.”

“You kill me, I kill you.”

“Until one side has bled completely dry, the strife never ends.”

“All these years I’ve been waiting—” her voice rose, “waiting for the contacts and resources you amassed to run out, waiting for your body to grow feeble with age.”

“Heaven rewards the patient. At last, today has come.”

What does she mean?

Bai Zhuqing, Bai Leying, and the others all wore blank looks. From the sound of it, had she gotten a handle on Grandpa?

But Bai Xiang remembered at once that Bai Shengju would sometimes cough when mixing her medicine these last few days.

For an old man, the occasional cough is nothing.

But a cough that lingers for over a week—that’s not great.

Did this illness take root before I came back?

Oh…

Then Jiang Haojing must have told this woman.

A third look at the unconscious Jiang Haojing, and Bai Xiang felt she’d gone too easy on her earlier.

After getting acquainted with someone of Tao Shuohua’s level, she was no longer the “nobody” she appeared to be. In other words, the rules that bind ordinary people no longer bound her.

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Like “accidentally” killing someone.

To her, it would no longer count as a major crime.

“Is that so?”

“But why… do you assume I’ll accept your challenge?”

Bai Shengju drew out his tone, his eyes toward Liu Mengqing tinged with disdain.

“What is this so-called revenge of yours?”

“A ‘Sword Dao Martial Meet’?”

“I can also refuse.”

“Go back.”

“Complain to whomever you like!”

“At your age, before a new Dao Lord is installed, yes, you can refuse a challenge.” Liu Mengqing smiled again. “But first, I’ve already bought off most of your disciples. Shenming Sword Dao’s headcount is likely under a hundred now.”

“You know the rules, don’t you? If a ‘Yingwu’-grade dojo’s disciple count drops sharply, you must bring it back up to two hundred within seven days.”

“Fail that, and the Shenming Dojo will have its plaque taken down and be struck off by the Sword Dao Association.”

Bai Shengju had been about to turn away, but froze mid-step at that.

He looked to Bai Xiang, and she nodded.

Although the ones who came earlier weren’t everyone, there was no reason for Liu Mengqing to lie at a time like this.

“Second, I’ve brought you a condition you can’t refuse.”

As she spoke, Liu Mengqing reached out to the side and took a tied scroll from a servant’s hands.

What’s that?

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Bai Shengju frowned.

It was a bit far; he couldn’t see…

But a scroll?

Could it be—

With a “swish,” Liu Mengqing faced the steps and unfurled it.

Almost at the same moment, everyone both above and below heard a razor-sharp cry pierce their ears.

That was… an ‘immortal crane’?

The opened scroll revealed, on a dun-yellow ground, a bird-beast with three legs, four wings, a single eye, a phoenix crest… features reminiscent of an ‘immortal crane.’

This is… a Demon Pool?

What she held—was it a ‘Demon Pool visualization chart’?

“Correct!” Liu Mengqing snorted.

“Demon Pool Visualization Chart, ‘Crying Infant’!”

“It doesn’t match my lineage, but it fits the two characters ‘Shenming’ very well.”

“Well, Bai Shengju? You know this—finding a Dao path that matches your sword art isn’t easy!”

“The chart even comes with half a set of a Forge-the-Sword method! I’m putting this up as my stake, and in seven days I’ll challenge Shenming Sword Dao to a ‘Sword Dao Martial Meet’!”

“Do you accept, or not…”

“Give me an answer!”

“Grandpa!” Bai Leying grabbed Bai Shengju’s sleeve at once, eyes wide, shaking her head again and again.

“Grandpa, don’t accept.”

Bai Zhuqing’s face was grave as well.

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You can always take your time finding a visualization chart and Forge-the-Sword method.

But for Bai Shengju to step onto a sword platform at his age—that would be…

She didn’t want to be this pessimistic, but facts were facts.

Be rational.

You can’t accept…

Bai Lianzhou said nothing, only stared fixedly at the old man with a look that said, “I’ll go,” “let me.”

Bai Shengju sighed, his gaze sweeping quickly over everyone’s faces. Only when it landed on Bai Xiang did he smile.

“No need.”

Bai Xiang offered a suggestion.

“A suitable visualization chart and Forge-the-Sword method.”

“One year.”

“Give me one year.”

“Within a year I can find them for the dojo.”

“I believe you!”

Ignoring the others’ astonished looks, Bai Shengju smiled and nodded to Bai Xiang.

“However, some things can’t be weighed purely by gain and loss.”

“Just like how you met that Tao Shuohua, yet still plan to solve your problems yourself—as a swordsman, I, too, have my obsessions.”

“If I don’t untie this knot in my heart now, I may never get another chance…”